Mother’s questions from beyond grave into son’s death at Deepcut
THE mother of the first soldier to die at Deepcut barracks has questioned from beyond the grave what happened to her son, as a new inquest into his death begins more than 20 years later.
Pte Sean Benton, one of four soldiers who lost their lives at the Surrey barracks between 1995 and 2002, died of gunshot wounds amid allegations of bullying and harassment of recruits.
The original inquest, held months after the 20-year-old’s death in June 1995, following an investigation by military police, concluded that he had committed suicide – but his parents campaigned tirelessly for a second hearing.
A statement from his mother, Linda, who died in 2012, was read to the court, in which she said she had “concerns” that “something was not right” about her son’s death and the initial investigation in which “it appears Sean’s death was very quickly treated as suicide”.
The statement, made in 2002, detailed the questions that remained for her, including about the movements of one of his trainers, why her son was not monitored more closely and was allowed to have a rifle if the Army had concerns about his state of mind, and why there was no blood on the note to her that was found with his body.
She also questioned why there was “such a spread of wounds” and why there were not ballistic tests carried out on the weapons.
The inquest heard that Pte Benton had signed up to the Army in 1994 and, after passing out from Pirbright, had tried and failed to train as a driver before joining the Royal Logistic Corps at Deepcut. But after he arrived, his family noticed a change in him. He stopped calling, lost weight and seemed tired and withdrawn, the coroner was told.
Tracy Lewis, Pte Benton’s elder sister, said that she had last seen him three months before his death when he told her that he had been “jailed for 10 days, shackled and made to parade around the canteen”. Ms Lewis said her brother also told her he was thrown out of a window. She said her parents “didn’t ever really believe Sean was murdered but were worried he was trying to run away and there might have been a terrible accident”.
Judge Peter Rook QC, the coroner, said he would look at a range of issues, including “whether there was a third party involved in the death” and whether Pte Benton was subjected to “bullying and harassment”.
The hearing at Woking coroner’s court is expected to last around two months.